Wednesday 13 & South Of Salem, KK’s Steel Mill 03.11.24
After a weeks much needed break to recharge our batteries, we’re back at KK’s in Wolverhampton for horror punk presario Wednesday 13.
First up though are South Coast goth rockers, South Of Salem (9) who we’ve covered a couple of times here at MoM. Not much as changed since we last caught these guys, they still put on a high octane show full of energy! They’ve had an incredibly busy year since the launch of their second album Death Of The Party, countless festival appearances, some high profile tour supports and their own headline tour and shows promoting the album.
Most of today’s set is lifted from that album, with a couple from the first album The Sinner Takes It All and as you would expect from a band that’s been playing these songs live for the best part of a year, they are slick and well rehearsed. Front man Joey Draper grows in stature every time we see them, more swagger and bravado as his confidence and experience grows. You’d think that after such a busy time that getting up on stage would become a bit of a drag, but not for these guys, they have boundless energy and love every minute of it, which spills out into the crowd, many of whom are sporting the latest line of SoS merch. They end their set with the crowd favourite Cold Day In Hell and I think it will be such a day when South Of Salem stop gigging! Surely the hardest working band on the circuit at the moment!
Now, I've got to be honest and admit to not knowing much Murderdolls (9) stuff, despite having a 16 year old at the time who was obsessed with the first album Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls. It was a massive part of his life and musical journey and he’s here tonight to relive his youth! But apart from their cover of White Wedding I’d struggle to name another song, so after 22 years I thought it’s about time I found out why this band had such an impact on my son.
Murderdolls was the side project of Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison, sadly no longer with us, who recruited the outrageously shocking Wednesday 13 from horror punk band Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13 to be in this new outfit. They released two albums, 2002’s aforementioned debut and Women And Children Last in 2010 and tonight show features a number of tracks from those two albums plus a few from the FDQs back catalogue.
When I think of horror punk I think of The Misfits and its various spin-offs, so I was intrigued to see what Wednesday 13 had to offer. Well with tracks like Chapel Of Blood, Slit My Wrist”, Blood Stained Valentine, this was Misfits on steroids. W13 bounded onto stage, an absolute cannonball of energy. The songs are fast and furious, in the vein of The Misfits, but with extra gore and shock treatment, like some weird science experiment merging the Prince of Shock Alice Cooper with the manic shock rocker Marilyn Manson. It’s theatrical and bombastic and he loves to engage with the audience. It’s a great spectacle, and the music ain’t bad either, although to be honest, I rarely took my eyes off W13, he’s so enigmatic!
So, 22 years late, but we’ve been well and truly enrolled into the Murderdolls ghoul army, it’s never too late to introduce yourself to a new band, I just wished I’d taken more notice of my son all those years ago! A very enjoyable evening.
I told you!!! Haha. God that was a great night 😍😁
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